When walking about through the wild parts of Rose Thorn. I spotted a Wisteria that wandered through the blackberry brambles. This twisted and beautiful spirit climbs across fences and up tall trees wandering where it pleases. In the spring, she is ripe with dripping blooms filled with color and a sweet fragrance. She is not only the keeper of secrets here on the land but provides an abundance to those who live in and under her. She provides shade and shelter to some and to others nectar to create natures liquid gold… honey. I love watching the bees fly from flower to flower soaking in the sweet scent of her fragrance. She, like the bee, whispers to me; telling me secrets of the land that had been hidden for so long from me.
It is no secret that I was able to obtain my homestead through various acts of magic, oracular work, and divine timing. However, just because one acquires something doesn’t mean that something wants to be acquired. That was the case with Rose Thorn. When we first moved here, I knew it was the perfect place. The land was green and lush and so fertile. I was thrilled to have a creek running through the property and plenty of gardens to plant in.
Several years ago, not too long after I moved in I was sitting near the water when I found a small piece of glass, it wasn’t sharp but it wasn’t frosted either. I played with it for a while and decided I would charge it and throw it in the creek and it would eventually finish frosting and perhaps be of magical use if found again. Well, the land spirits had other plans. They did not care to have energetic offerings and later I would find out why they didn’t want this particular one either. When I tossed it into the water to my surprise it broke in half and each piece ended up on either side of the bank. The rejection puzzled me at first and decided that I should take a different approach.
Later I would find out that the creek had been someone’s dumping ground once upon a time. After four years of pulling out some of the strangest things, including car parts, a sealed bottle from the 1960s, washing machine parts, a shattered toilet, and who knows what else is down there I have yet to uncover. After spending time actually tending the place, I understood that this land not only needed to be cleaned and tended but that it was going to take much time to establish trust and a relationship with the land spirits. Things seem to have changed and the land is speaking!
Where the Wisteria Wanders
One day not too long ago, while I was wandering through the wilder places on my property with a bucket of Belladonna, I saw an old familiar friend. At first, I couldn’t quite remember her name, but her familiar leaves drew me closer. As I knelt down to look she intrigued me even more. Her leaves were sprouting from, not a branch but a vine. I began to trace the vine to one end and came to the base of the Alder tree. She had begun to slither upwards and around the base, weaving herself around and around. She grew between a knot in the tree, intermingling with the Alder Tree. After I observed her, I saw that I had finally come to the end of the vine. Excitedly I knew it was a mysterious Wisteria who had just revealed herself to me, but she was about to reveal so much more!
As I began to trace the vine the other direction, trying to find her origin. My mind wandered to the giant Wisteria by the road, the massive tangle of vines trailing along the fence line. Was this the mother of the mysterious Wisteria I was uncovering? I marveled at my interaction with her just weeks before. While exploring near her she lead me to a tree that I had previously dismissed as a “weed” tree. What I thought was a stinky flowering pear tree was actually a wild cherry!
For four long years, the wild cherry tree lied, it spoke not of juicy fruits, but of foul-smelling flowers. How it convinced me it was a flowering pear tree I cannot remember. I have spent many hours pondering over how I could have missed this giant juicy and fruitful tree, but the fact of the memory eludes me still. I will admit that I didn’t spend time with it, in each season. I had spent most of my time with her during the early spring. Beautiful creamy Daffodill’s with yellow frilly cup grow at her base.
By now I had traced the newer and mysterious Wisteria away from the Alder tree and into a giant hedge of brambles heavy with green blackberries with wicked thorns. With a few extra hands, gloves, and proper tools we began chopping the blackberries away. Each cut inching closer and closer to the creek and to the origin of the Wisteria vine. Soon we found another Wisteria vine and then another. We continued to cut away at the blackberries until we came to a random post sticking out of the ground. How strange, a single post on the bank of the creek covered in layers and layers of blackberry brambles.
I kept tracing the vines towards the creek until one veered to the left under the Blackberries. I continued to trace her 2nd vine until I reached another post covered in years and years of Blackberry growth. Refocusing my chopping efforts on finding the Wisterias origin, I finally cleared enough Blackberries away to see the base of the Wisteria. Stepping back and looking at the Wisteria she was much larger than I expected! She had clearly been there for several years but wasn’t nearly as big or as old as the giant Wisteria that revealed the Cherry Tree to me.
I sat there and pondered how strange this mysterious Wisteria was, how she somehow told a story with her movements and in each purposeful inch she grew, not towards the sun, but towards the shade to curl up the Alder tree just to get my attention! I took a deep breath of relief, not only could I finally hear the land speak, it was speaking directly to me. The Belladonna decided not to grow well and needed to find a new home, it pointed to the Alder tree who revealed its twisted companion to me. Ahhh she is so mysterious this purple perfumed blooming beauty!
As I continued to explore the natural landscape where this Wisteria was growing. I noticed a few unnatural things that seemed out of place and odd. There between the two posts were bricks forming what looked like a stair or two. I couldn’t see much more so I went back to explore the Wisteria again. I traced the wisteria away from where I was and up across the creek. The rest of my view was obscured by a tree that had fallen into the creek. A few more tools and a few hours later the tree was cleared and we could see across the creek. Not to my surprise, there were posts on the other side as well. A few boards in the creek bed and a few other mystery pieces of trash. The wisteria had revealed yet another secret to me.
The cleaning of the creek continues as I write this, the Wisteria first revealing itself to me, then these two mysteries of the land where I live. I look forward to learning more about the relationship with the Alder, Wisteria and Bridge as well as the wild Cherry tree.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In